Sorry to start another Rondo thread, but I thought this deserved its own space.
Bill Simmons mentioned something in his recent podcast (Monday - Cousin Sal/Bill's Dad) that may have provided context for some of the ardent Rondo fans on this board. Bill and his dad talked about how sad the trade was for the younger generation of fans for whom Rondo is their guy. To them, the many years of rebuilding preceding the second Big Three era may be more a distant childhood memory than it is to us who experienced it in our teens, twenties, or older.
I don't mean to paint all pro-Rondo fans with the same brush because there were definitely legitimate arguments to keeping him around despite the free agent risk. However, I can't help but wonder if some of the pro-Rondo sentiment was based partly in naivete. A younger fan may not have experienced a long rebuild and not understand how it is sometimes necessary. They may think that a HOF player like Garnett becomes available every couple years and that the Celtics would naturally have a great shot at him, when actually the opposite is true. All the assets in the world wouldn't have mattered if Ainge hadn't made a successful pitch to Garnett before the trade. It's totally unprecedented in the modern era for the Celtics to have convinced a star like that to come to Boston (remember that even though we had Pierce and Allen, the team sans Allen actually only won 24 games the season before. Rivers hadn't ever won anything and Ainge was an unproven GM who had presided over 4 mediocre seasons - Garnett was taking a humongous risk). It really speaks to Garnett's unique personality that he didn't just angle to go for the most obvious and safer destination like most players in that situation would.
These younger fans may also not have the cynicism of an older fan when it comes to players saying the right things to the press but obviously thinking something different inside. To an older fan, the writing was on the wall and it's the same old story of a star in his prime leaving a rebuilding team for a contender. What Rondo said publicly was inconsequential. I can see how a younger fan who grew up with Rondo might take his words at face value because this guy is their favorite player. I love Rondo too, but my heart's already been broken countless times. Once it became clear no stars were going to be available, Rondo simply didn't belong on this team. The fact that Rondo displayed little shock from the sudden trade just shows me that mentally he was already prepared for a divorce.
Topic: The possibility that some pro-Rondo fans are younger (Read 7903 times)